My Work and How to Find Me

I train you to eliminate and release barriers, find the truth that lives in your heart, and open the creative pallet for designing and living a life you truly love, a life that fulfills your entire being.  My work is an emerging field within the emerging field of human software engineering and development.  While most bodies of work deal with obstacles using the intellect, my work provides huge breakthroughs through the feeling centers of the body.

We come into this world as feeling beings.  Our strongest access to the experience of ourselves as new beings is on a feeling level.  Although we can feel/hear sound coming into our ears it takes time to develop the capacity to differentiate between what all of the different sounds evoke.  Mother's voice leaves a different imprint on us than a loud startling sound.  A nurturing hug leaves a different feeling level reaction than a hard slap. 

While we are in this stage without spoken language to guide us, something either physically or emotionally painful happens which triggers a feeling level response and decision to never feel that bad again. This decision makes perfect sense at the time.  As we become adults, we have 20 times more of these cells that allow us to feel than when we were babies.  However, because of this feeling level decision, we only utilize about 10% of the capacity at our disposal. 

When things happen that overwhelm our capacity to feel, we do not complete whatever the experience is; this leads to problems later on.  In the ACE ( Adverse Childhood Experience ) Study conducted by Kaiser Permanente, people who had 4-6 overwhelming things occur were exponentially more likely to have addictive behaviors, have difficult time holding down steady jobs, and be much more likely to have kidney, liver or other debilitating diseases as adults.  

So again I ask; What would life be like if you completely let go of patterns and behaviors that no longer serve you?  What freedoms and opportunities would be available to you and what would you want to do with your new found freedom and power? 

To schedule a conversation, e-mail me at AtEaseCoaching@gmail.com     with blessings and gratitude--Magi

My Latest Breakthrough

My husband and I moved into an apartment while our home is on the market.  Here's our for sale home--
http://sea.themlsonline.com/search/new,map,c6b5695306571c4b4b185667f5d1aa1b.html  
One of the upshots of apartment living is that I have taken on keeping it clean.  I made the commitment to sweep, wash and vacuum once a week.  What actually happened pointed to early childhood conditioning.  When I was growing up, we only ran the vacuum cleaner when my dad was away at work.  When he was home, it was considered  better to keep quiet, hence no vacuuming.   I found that I could not get the vacuum out when my husband is home.  And he doesn't care, really.  Of course, I cleared out that energy, checked in and forgave myself, my father, his father and ancestors, our collective conditioning and myself again, several times actually as I tapped into different facets.  Into the energetic space I replenished myself and my psyche with cleaning as an expression of love and gratitude.  

The Best House --oops I mean Hell's Kitchen--Opening Ever

Hells Kitchen, for the uninitiated, is a show where 16 chefs compete for big bucks and a golden new career.  On season 8 episode 1, one of the competing chefs presents her signature dish which makes Ramsey throw up almost his entire intestinal tract with occasional bouts of 'bloody hell--uuurrrp; brraarrf.'   The next morning, during kitchen prep, the contestant goes into the storage room and falls to the ground in a spasming heap. Cut to medics. Cut to an ambulance and loud sirens. Cut to commercial.
For a moment I was surprised to not hear the opening theme from House.  The more I thought about it, the more I relished the idea of Dr. Gregory House going toe to toe against chef Gordon Ramsey.  who would win?  would there be blood?  whose wry barbs would cause the other to collapse into a quivering blob?  would they, could they, erupt into a passionate frenzy of Brokeback-esque manliness while Wilson takes blackmail pictures?   A rich imagination kept me busy and content for many bizarre and happy minutes.
Perhaps this is not what one would consider conventional wisdom, yet, perhaps, wisdom is the back of the hand to thinking thoughts that no (wo)man has thought before.  til we meet again....

China Project Images

The China Project 1-29/30-2009

Friday, January 29^th.   What a glorious day, I was allowed to do an 8 hour one day workshop today--I think it was the most effective one yet.  Due to the short time available, we really 'cut to the chase'  I reported about the ACE study, told about animals 'shaking off' their bad experiences and linked the importance of doing this to the adverse impacts from the ACE Study.  We did the GAP exercise, and I had the two best people to demonstrate the CORE and the SEE techniques respectively. 

My CORE volunteer had anger from when she was a child.  She was only scratching the surface until she recalled how angry and frightened she would become when her father beat her mother.  At that point it was clear that she was reliving that anger and fear.  She was very brave and gracious and felt much different about the experience when we were finished—the memories no longer caused her any pain.  The place in her back with aches and tension that had been there for months no longer had any pain.  The volunteers paired up and each one took a turn using the CORE to resolve some issue with anger in their life.

My SEE volunteer didn’t believe that a life without stress was worth living and she wanted to keep the ‘big cast iron pot' of stress on her head even though she found a grassy field with flowers and a warm sky where she felt happy.  I told her she could keep her big iron pot if she wanted to ((it is important not to insist that anyone do anything against their wishes in this work)) and as soon as I said that she could keep it, she let it go and all of a sudden she could see many ways to alleviate the amount of stress in her life.  When she opened her eyes she looked 10 years younger！ The difference was so staggering, the group agreed that she should go look in the mirror and see for herself.  I wish I had taken before and after photos. 

Tomorrow, we fly back to Beijing then I fly home in 2 more days.  There will be a lot of follow up once I return and then down to Carlsbad to hang with my peers in trauma resolution, holding another workshop for veterans returning from the war.  My life is blessed and much richer for having had these two weeks in China.  There are many opportunities I have had to be completely in the unknown, surrendering to just being open.  I have so much love for everyone here and at home.  For now my hosts in Mianyang want to buy me beer and I am going to be a gracious guest and let them.

Afterthought:  We slept here in the Mianyang workspace.  Since there were only five of us, and there were three bathrooms—one of which was western style--I was able to rest and take a shower.   The housekeeper made us a wonderful breakfast and then we were off to the airport. 

Saturday, January 30^th.  I am back in Beijing awash in memories--thinking of the woman's hands that were frostbitten because she can't wear gloves when she types on the computer; thinking of what I thought was a large man hawking and spitting up a giant loogie only to turn around and see a petite elegantly dressed business woman; thinking of countless shy stares turning into full twinkling eye contact smiles when I smiled first; thinking of so many volunteers in their mid to late 20's looking like 14 and 15 year olds; thinking of fresh sautéed pea vine, smoked tofu, broccoli, and potatoes; thinking of the spice that numbs the tongue; thinking of stories of earthquake memories from the locals; Dujiangyang; Mianzhu; Mianyang;  US $.68 a day for food allowance; down coats with lower sleeve covers--when they get dirty you only have to wash them and not the entire coat; "Gambei"--bottoms up, heard way too many times on our last night in Mianyang, after ending the workshop at 11 pm; hearing my several times daily mantra of "I don't know";  and more memories filling my heart and head faster than I can type.  I fly home tomorrow; I will sleep on the plane and dream in Chinese, which I still can’t speak except for Xie Xie.

The China Project 1-25/26-2009

Monday January 25^th.  Day one is over and I am full of love and energy.  There was such grace and ease today.  Again, I am amidst the warmest, friendliest people.  The workshop is being held at a workspace set up by Jet Li's One Foundation.  There are 6 staff and we have 25+/- people here.  Many people in this group recently participated in an NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) workshop--not to compare apples and oranges.  I have not done any NLP work, so cannot offer an opinion on how effective it is.  However, I think that the group is willing to try new things without needing to know a lot of information before they try it.  What a blessing and gift this was to have on this day. 

We started again with how a baby will decrease its ability to feel things when something painful happens. Then the adult, who has 20 times the cells in the brain which allow a human being to feel, still only has the capacity to feel a small percentage of their feelings.  I explained how trauma occurs in the feeling centers of the brain, not in the intellect.  We spoke about the state of calm, quiet and peace—‘pure awareness’ that every baby is born with and then we all had the opportunity to experience this together, using the GAP technique.  We filled out the trauma evaluation sheet and I worked with someone who needed both the CORE and the SEE technique.  While it was a rich opportunity to demonstrate a full body of work, it was too much to parse out in one session.  It is more effective to demonstrate either the SEE technique or the CORE technique exclusively.  There were so many questions, that we stopped for lunch without working in pairs before the break. 

After lunch I worked with someone who was worried about speaking in public--the perfect SEE technique demo.  Then they worked in pairs, using the SEE technique to clear something in their life they felt anxious about.  We had some time for Q & A and our day completed on a happy, lively note.  Tomorrow we will focus on the evaluation sheet and do more work with the CORE technique.  Tonight we are having a traditional dinner then going to a community toll free ‘hotline’ center, where I hope I will be allowed to make a difference. 

Tuesday, January 26^th.  We had a great day today.  We had ample time for a CORE demonstration and then the groups worked in pairs.  Again, I notice that the interconnection with each other renders some things unnecessary.  The different ‘emotional symptoms’ on the evaluation sheet provide Americans with additional options and clarity to distinguish their personal level of trauma.  There were emotional distinctions which seemed redundant for the Chinese.  (i.e. remorse, regret, survivor guilt were interchangeable for the most part) I think I will be out of computer range for the next few days until evening on the 29th.  We did a lot of great work today, with many people staying afterward to ask questions and get some guidance.  I did notice that some people incorporated NLP stuff into the paired sessions—and I don’t know what kind of impact this had overall.  I am a bit cold and very tired--in a good way and feel a bit of a cold coming on.  

The couple from the Beichuan area reported that they saw a huge benefit is participating both in the Landmark Forum and in learning my work.  The Landmark Forum works through the intellect; my work with trauma resolution works at the feeling level.   As the ACE Study (Adverse Childhood Experiences) shows, the more trauma you experience as a child and do not resolve, the more likely it is as an adult to smoke, use illicit drugs, and suffer from diseases such as hepatitis, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and more.   My works gets to the ‘feeling level’ source of unresolved emotional experiences. 

The China Project 1-23/24-2009

Saturday, January 23^rd.  Today we worked with the children--they are so much more willing to just try whatever you say, it was fun.  First I worked with the ten children together while their parents observed--we played a game to see where they felt different things--what do you feel when it's your birthday and where do you feel that?  What do you feel when your friend takes your toy and where do you feel that?  Then we escalated things a bit to 'where do you feel sad?’  ‘Where do you feel scared?’  and then, finally,  “when you think of the earthquake what do you feel and where is it?”  One boy cried quietly, I think he was surprised by the tears.   He was one of the boys who worked with me privately in the afternoon.

Mei-Mei and Mia, two of Liu Meng’s volunteers observed as I worked with three children who had been buried for 28 hours, with a little girl whose sister died, and I worked with several parents, all with good results.  I had a good night sleep last night—I learned about the electric blanket, and that made a world of difference.  Tonight, I have a hotel room--the room is warm, the shower is beautiful and the toilet is western style.  My knees are very grateful.  I had dinner with 2 of my translators.  All in all, the 4 days here working with Liu Meng and his volunteers were everything I could have wanted. 

I learned so much about what works for the Chinese people.  Being direct--"go where you feel the most pain" is effective.  Western style of--"Go to the center of where you feel the energy" is confusing.  Muscle testing is exasperating and completely unnecessary here.  I intend to set up regular skype calls with the group to check in, and this will have to wait until I am back from San Diego later in February.    Liu Meng tried to give me money from his savings --which is how he takes care of feeding his volunteers--I refused of course.  They are so generous with so little.  I compromised by letting him get our ride to Mianzhu, where we would be holding our second workshop. 

Sunday, January 24^th.   Today, we travelled to Mianzhu.  Last night I had my very first Chinese massage.  Two hours later, I was returned to my hotel with a western toilet and a hot shower.  The massage was done fully clothed, except for shoes with a lot of time spent on our feet.  I was so happy.  I had just had dinner with two of my translators and a friend of theirs who just got back from Kuwait and is now working on finance and economics here in China.  The four of us were together in the same room in comfortable lounge chairs drinking hot jasmine tea and watching an American movie in Chinese while the 4 masseuses talked and giggled.  Once in awhile one of the ladies I was with would chime in and the giggling would increase. 

I am including experience to illustrate something that is very different and precious about being part of a community here.  It was a treat the way the girls who were working on us enjoyed their camaraderie and included us in their happy conversations.  When we had meals together for the last 4 days at the workspace, we all ate out of the serving dishes together, taking small portions and adding them to our bowls of rice.  I think it is that very essense of being so interconnected that makes muscle testing here weird rather than helpful.  I realize that in the United States culture we are stuck with the illusion of separateness, and that establishing muscle testing repoire is a fundamental need to gain that access and permission to reconnect.  I noticed here, especially during the final 2 days that I never needed it or missed it. 

Tom Stone, who created this work, spoke with me before I left for China.  He said that I would not need to teach muscle testing.  Yet, on the first day of the training I tested that it was optimal to include it.  And I get how perfect it was to learn why it didn't work first hand.  I am grateful for the lesson, and at the same time, I regret the time wasted with the group in Dujiangyan.  I am staying at a hotel while I am here in Mianzhu--Y130 which works out to about $50 for 3 nights.  I notice that my brain parses out currencies visually rather than based on reality.  I initially cringed when I forked over Y400.  My brain goes "that's 400 dollars!!!"  I am happy to have a western bathroom, my knees are especially happy.  I am grateful for heat.  Liu Meng, the man who invited me, and his staff live without heat, wash their clothes by hand in little basins, bathe using heated water in the same little basins and dine happily together.  We all wore our heavy coats while conducting the workshop, and I probably should have worn my hat.  They have a much greater need than I do for the money he had offered, and with any luck, there may still be a few stateside donations coming in to offset my expenses.   Regardless, it would have felt wrong to me to take the money from him.   He is so dedicated to the people who are suffering with trauma from the earthquake.   His volunteers are equally committed to helping their people get better and get some release from the grip of their suffering.    

The China Project 1-21/22-2009

Thursday, January 21^st.  It is still a brain tease of a journey playing in the flow, never knowing moment by moment what is going to land and what is going to tank.  Jean--the woman who began this whole journey--continues to be my trim-tab, the English speaking voice of when things aren't landing.  My charges look like teenagers, so clean scrubbed and bright and happy--and they are all in their 20's and 30's.   I am finding that muscle testing, which is necessary to do in the United States is awkward and confusing here in China.  I may have to rethink using it here.   In the U.S. we are a culture of individuals, who carry our emotions out in the open for the most part.  Gaining permission to enter the ‘damaged part’ of the emotional space of another person is vital, hence the muscle testing allows for the connection which communicates between facilitator and client.  Here in China, living in a community is prevalent, so the connection is well established without the need to muscle test. 

Tomorrow we will be working with 10 mothers who had children die in the quake, and then on our final day we will be working with a group of children who were trapped in the rubble of their school building for 28 hours.  Tonight, I was able to work with a father whose daughter died in the quake.  His wife is in really bad shape and so he had that worry on top of everything else.  He felt much better after we worked through the energy of pain for his daughter, the energy of hopelessness about what to do for his wife, and the energy of worry for her.  It was the most amazing work, I was so honored by his courage and trust and vulnerability. 

What else is there to say except that I had sugar cane tonight for the very first time. 

Friday, January 22^nd.  Well, the mothers have come and gone.  We were not able to work with as many as I had hoped.  There was so much new material covered over the last 2 days that the volunteers for the most part felt a bit overwhelmed.  I think that the work with muscle testing was confusing for a few of the attendees, a group of visiting workers did not return for our work today.   One courageous mother was willing to work with me in front of the group.  This led to a couple of interesting things that I was able to learn about the difference in Chinese culture.  Grieving here is a ‘years long’ process, building up the first year and escalating the second year.  So, these mothers are just into the middle of their second year of their grieving process.  That alone showed me how much courage this mother had.    Also, as she found the area of pain in her heart, I found it was helpful for her to breathe in to gain strength in her body, and then breathe out and move slowly closer to the center of the pain.  This gradual process of ‘breathing in and getting grounded and breathing out and moving closer’ is something I will include in all future workshops.  

Then there is the thing about crying--they don't cry except when alone, and then very rarely.  Working with Westerners, tears are often a distraction which allows the person to avoid feeling things fully.  When a Westerner cries, at least 90% of the time we will guide them to channel the energy they are putting into their tears into the area of their body where they are feeling the emotional energy.  So as I worked with the mother, when she teared up, I muscle tested to insure that it was best to allow her to cry.  When she cried, the other mothers in the room cried with her.  It was as if her openness and vulnerability allowed them to be vulnerable as well.  Their tears also seemed to let her know that she was not alone.  I have witnessed a similar camaraderie when working with war veterans.  Sometimes a soldier will need another soldier to stand close and offer a supporting hand on the shoulder.  This also provides the safety of knowing he is not alone. 

Soon, the mother stopped crying and continued working and then suddenly was tired, and I checked that it was best to finish.  When she stood up, her legs gave out from under her and two people had to help her to her room, where she openly cried again.  Fifteen minutes later, she called me into the room to tell me that she felt much better.  When I checked, she let me know that her pain was much lower than when we began.  Her face looked calm and peaceful, not pinched and drawn as when she first arrived.  Also her color was better—healthier in appearance.  I let her know that this is a process, with many layers to work through, and that she is fortunate that her therapist Me-Me is so gifted in this work.   She rejoined the group and shared her results with the other mothers, who were then willing to work with me one at a time, privately. 

A few of the mothers had to leave after lunch, so instead of Me -and Mei working with 10 women with my supervision, I worked with 4, while Me-Me and Mia observed me; and the last mother was in such good shape all she wanted was for me to check to see if a physical condition that she currently had was being helped by the medication she was taking.  Her body resonated with the medication being effective for her condition.  One of the mothers was withdrawn and did not want to close her eyes or show any emotion.  Her mouth was pinched; it was clear that she wanted and needed to cry but was holding back her tears.  As I worked with her she finally let her guard down and began to cry—which is what she needed—the space and permission to express her grief and sadness.  However, as soon as her tears began, Me-Me and my translator reached out and touched her.  Immediately she shut down and closed herself off, and it will take beginning again to achieve that small opening which is needed here.   

This led to another important discovery.  The volunteers were not prepared for the emotions and tears which occurred during the demonstration.  It is imperative that more work be done with the volunteers so that they will not be uncomfortable when one of their clients cry.  It is predictable that mothers will cry as they do this work, and that the crying is an integral and important part of their healing.   

I also think my reserves are a bit drained because I just felt sadness at the end of the day, feeling like I let the head psychologist, Liu Meng down by not having time to help all the mothers.  He assured me that he thought we did great work,  and that it is best to let just a few of the volunteers who really have taken to this work be the ones to work ‘one on one’. 

The China Project 1-19/20-2009

Tuesday, January 19^th.  We traveled to Chengdu and then on to Dujiangyan.  I was greeted by my translator Angela, who translated my documents, but cannot be here for the first 2 days of the training.  Liu Meng, who heads the volunteers paid for a lovely dinner.  We were feasted at a Korean barbecue: bacon, squid, lamb, chicken knuckles (which were quite tasty), steak, eggplant, potatoes, lotus root, and fried rice with kimchee.  Again, this was a moment by moment exercise in letting go and allowing arrangements to unfold.  I am now happily housed in the volunteer living quarters, happily writing e-mails on a volunteer's computer, then off to bed.  The volunteers are in their late 20's and they all look about 15 years old.  My heart is full to bursting with the warm reception I have received.  Our workshop space is right here in the volunteer housing so it will be very homey and low key--which works for me.  I am a bit wiped out and am ready to settle in for the night. 

Wednesday, January 20^th.  Today was wonderful, and I feel 'labor and delivery' tired.  As stated before, I am staying with the volunteers in their workspace, which is also where they live.  It is like a 3 or 4 bedroom apartment, with a large living area, one bathroom, and a small kitchen.  We had a yummy breakfast of spicy fried rice with egg and some rice porridge with spicy pickled veges.  It was really tasty. 

We had 20-25 people attend the workshop.  The work flowed, with me checking in with muscle testing all the time.  We looked at how we shut down our capacity to feel, and how the workings of the lower brain, mid brain and upper brain impact what little we allow ourselves to feel.  I asked them if they would like to experience a space of peace and calm and I led everyone through the GAP technique. 

The GAP technique allows the person to reach a state of calm and quiet in just a few minutes.  This calm, quiet, peaceful experience is what each of the two other techniques achieves, although the route with the CORE and SEE techniques is through an uncomfortable pathway of the emotions which get buried during times of trauma.   The GAP technique allows the person to notice that they have thoughts, and then focus on the ‘moment of silence’ between each thought.  With a bit of practice, this moment of silence becomes easier to access and longer to experience. 

We looked at how our concerns have an impact on us when we are with other people. 

We did a group process on different things the volunteers worry about when they think about wanting to help their clients--using the SEE technique.   The SEE technique is used to clear emotions such as stress and worry—which are about things that have not happened yet.  “What if I don’t get all my work done?”  “What if my boss thinks my work is not good enough?” and things like that.  Worries and stress can feel like the ‘weight of the world’ and often feel like they are coming in from outside of the body as well as inside.  Then we did a group process of working through anger--using the CORE technique.  The CORE technique focuses on where the emotion feels the most intense—such as it feels ‘hard or heavy’ in the stomach area.  The guidance with the CORE technique is to find the area where it feels the ‘hardest or heaviest’—or whatever the experience feels like—cold, sharp, hot, prickly etc. 

I thought that it would be best for the group to use muscle testing to fill out their own evaluation sheets--that was the part of the day that caused the most laughter for the group.  Muscle testing checks for what the body ‘resonates with’ and has been invaluable in working with American clients.  For instance, a person will have a strong response to the recognition of their own name, and a weak response to being called a different name.  Their body recognizes their real name and does not recognize the name that isn’t their name.  The volunteers were coming up with all kinds of goofy statements to check on each other.  They were also surprised by some of the numbers that they got on their sheets.  I then did a demonstration on someone who scored high on nightmares.  That was really interesting since her intellect swore that this was not an issue.  When I had her check her body to see if there was any energy she immediately found some in the small of her back.  By the end of the session her score was down from 6 on a scale of 10 to 1 on a scale of 10.  Then they paired up and did CORE work with each other.  That completed the day except for one on one work that I did with my wonderful translator. 

My profound appreciation goes out to Tom Stone at Great Life Technologies for developing this work--leading is fulfilling beyond belief, and I am so very tired and so ready for bed.   I am ready for a warm washcloth for my face.  Tomorrow we will complete the evaluation sheets; then the volunteers' clients will join us for the final 2 days. 

The China Project 1-17/18-2009

Report and Observations leading 3 PTSD Trauma Resolution Trainings in China

Sunday, January 17^th.  Today was lovely.  I had a young man who is in Jean Chu's circle of friends take me out sight-seeing.  He was kind, insightful and gracious.  We had the honor of seeing Chairman Mao--with 50,000 other people.  Then we spent 5 hours at the Forbidden Palace where I took many pictures.  Every turn brought new gorgeous sights.  Each palace had a wonderful name, evoking honorable ways of being, and I had the sense that the names were chosen to remind the leaders of who they were for their people and visa-versa. 

 I was able to attend the Landmark Forum evening session with Jean Chu and 2 villagers from the Beichuan area. They looked so bright and happy, able to let go of the anguish over the death of their son.  I am so deeply moved that I will be allowed to train people to provide that release in what I hope will be minutes rather than days. 

Monday, January 18^th.  Today were meetings with the representative from the UN and CSWA.  At the gate of the UN, an unusual woman came up and asked Jean to ask the UN to help her find her son who was “on another planet with the Martians.”  The wonderful guards helped us to decline her offer and we were met by Henny Ngu, from the UNDP.  Later we met Mr. Chen, the head of the CSWA, an impressive man with 2 million volunteers under his umbrella.  They were both very generous with their time.  I assured him that my work would be easily taught and that anyone could learn to do these processes.  He may be sending some of his people to one of my trainings.  Then we had lunch at a small cafe.  6 dishes cost about 40 yuan, very reasonable.  Then we met an earthquake scientist who had a compassionate conversation with the villagers from the earthquake zone.  Then home.

Jean's friend came to translate while I worked with the villagers from Beichuan.  After working with them, I worked with the translator.  I noticed a common occurrence with all of them.  Each of them searched for and found the energy exclusively in their head.  The wife was able to sense some sensation in her heart with some guidance, and the translator moved very quickly from his head into the ‘energy of anger’ in his liver--I believe he has some training in Chinese medicine.  The consensus from the villagers was that when they thought about the issue, it hurt, and when they didn't think about the issue, it didn't hurt.  Quite the conundrum! 

I came away with two major insights.  First of all I have a profound appreciation for Landmark Education and the Landmark Forum.  Their work is perfect for causing very powerful breakthroughs using the intellectual part of the mind.  The villagers, who had just participated, were able to talk about their son who died in the quake--he had been in Beijing at school studying, and had come home that day to visit at their request.  They can now talk about this experience without tears--this is huge.  Nothing is better than the Landmark Forum for getting the difference between what happened and your story about what happened.  They will attend my workshop in Mianzhu.  It will be useful to gain their perspective after they learn more about my work. 

The second insight came when talking with the translator after working with him.  I also did some work on myself to gain more clarity.  What I realized was when conducting the trainings this week, to have the people I am working with stay out of their heads--possibly integrate my knowledge about the organs of the body and their corresponding emotions into what I include in the training.  I love what I get to do.  I especially love the arrangement that allowed me to get this essential bit of training BEFORE beginning the work in the earthquake zone.